Every now and then I like to pull a book from my shelves and see what’s waiting on the page to which I randomly open it. It’s a fun game, and more often than not, the words I find seem surprisingly relevant to whatever is going on in my thoughts or circumstances at the time.

On a whim, I did that today. And what I found was this little verse:

Life is just a minute
Only sixty seconds in it,
Forced upon you, can’t refuse it.
Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it,
But it’s up to you to use it.
You must suffer if you lose it,
Give an account if you abuse it,
Just a tiny little minute,
But eternity is in it.

For those of us who are still spending our days closed in our homes, every minute just might feel as if it lasts for eternity! Somebody made a comment on social media this week that she felt she was living in the movie “Groundhog Day,” where every day was exactly like the one before.

But the truth is that every minute is wholly unique. Everything is constantly changing. And it is our choice how to view that minute, how to use it. Like our breath, it’s a precious gift. It’s a moment of our life, holding all life’s mystery and potential. And we are completely free to choose how we will spend it.

We can let it pass by without notice, our attention lost in dreams of moments past or in fantasies of moments yet to come. Or we can use it as a stepping stone that moves us closer to accomplishing a goal we have in mind. We can see it as an opportunity, a invitation to move in a new direction, a door opening to a future where we get to be exactly who we want to be.

We can see it as a vehicle to carry away what we no longer want or need–our sadness, our pain, our anger, our despair.

It’s so malleable, so open, so completely ready to be whatever we choose to make of it. Isn’t that absolutely amazing?

It’s easy to think that this minute must wear the colors of the moment that came before it, that it must continue the same line of thought, the same mood. But that simply isn’t true. This minute, this one we’re living in right now, is wholly subject to our will. We’re free to make of it anything we choose.

But not only are we free to do with it as we will, we’re responsible for how we will choose to use it.

We can choose to let it be a moment of clarity and excellence and purpose. We can use it to fuel ourselves, to give ourselves rest. We’re free to stand still in it and see its incredible beauty, or to dance in it, or to fill it with love and kindness or with laughter and joy.

We’re free to waste it, too. But don’t do that. A minute might seem like such a little thing. But you only get so many of them, you know? And you never know when the next one might be your last. Make ‘em count.